Then Laurie's sister, Donna Joiner, offered to be the surrogate for Laurie. Eight months after the embryos were implanted, Joiner gave birth to fraternal twins Colten and Connor Yahn — the biological sons of Laurie and Mark — by cesarean section.

"She gave us the best gift in the world, the opportunity to be parents," said Laurie, who has no other children. "We call her Saint Donna around here. How do you repay somebody for that?"

Now almost 18 years later, Colten and Connor have grown into two of Bishop Moore's top athletes and students entering their final season of competition. Bishop Moore's student body voted them to be "Best Friends Forever."

Both are on the Hornets' weightlifting team this spring. .

"We feel blessed to have such a great family," Connor said. "Our parents and our aunt and her family went out of their way for us."

Said Laurie, 52: "We refer to them as our miracle babies."

According to a report released last summer by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, more than 5 million babies have been born through in vitro since the first one in 1978.

Before Joiner approached her sister, she went to her husband, Mike, for his approval, and to her doctors to be certain she was healthy enough for a pregnancy. She also discussed it with her three children, the youngest of which was 18 at the time. Only after everyone was on board did she mention it to Laurie.

"She's like another mother figure," Colten said. "She is an extremely special person to us. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be here."

Said Connor: "She is definitely closer to us than most aunts."

The Yahns and Joiners spend holidays and vacations together and generally spend as much time as possible with each other. Laurie and Donna often plan family get-togethers.

Not physically identical, Colten (5-foot-9, 200 pounds) and Connor (6-0, 165) have a shared love of sports and similar academic success.

They played flag football, Pop Warner football and football at Bishop Moore — Colten at linebacker, Connor at wide receiver. Colten played lacrosse; Connor played basketball. They are into boating, wakeboarding, snow skiing, skateboarding and tennis.

Both are in the National Honor Society, are peer ministers, members of the leadership team, and are in the Ecology and Spanish clubs.

They have been accepted to most of Florida's largest universities, including UF, FSU, Miami and UCF. Connor, who has a weighted 4.1 GPA, plans to go to Florida and prepare for a career in sports journalism. Colten, with a weighted 4.3 GPA, is undecided about where he will go to college but he wants to study pre-med.

"We wonder what our life would have been like without Connor and Colten," said Mark, 56, who owns a consulting firm. "I think about things I would have missed out on, like coming home from work and seeing Laurie out in the driveway playing tee-ball with our sons. Or seeing our son score his first touchdown or catch his first pass."

And Joiner and her family have been there, cheering on Connor and Colten.

"I think of those kids as my own, and I always will," said Joiner, 61, a kindergarten teacher at Azalea Park Elementary. "They still are partly mine. We have followed them through all their sports. I am proud of them.."

Said Colten: "I feel like we were meant to be after all everyone went through to have us."